Truth In Language

March 13, 2023

 

                     

                    

                                                                  (Maison Jazz Band)

                                                                  

                                                                  Truth In Language

       In James Baldwin's persuasive essay titled, "If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?" (1979), Baldwin strongly exclaims that language plays a large role in one's identity and culture. Mr Baldwin develops his persuasive essay using pieces of artifacts from time and point's of view/relation. Mr. Baldwin wrote this persuasive essay in order to persuade and convince people language is more than just spoken words, instead, language, specifically Black English, has played a major role in shaping America along with the journey, power and, struggles it holds. The intended audience for this essay would be New York Times readers but more so Black people because it relates so much to them and their language, specifically in America.

        While reading Mr. Baldwin's persuasive essay I was saddened. Things that Black people made their own, such as Jazz, white people appropriated. Even things that weren't meant to be imitated, such as poverty, white people did it anyways. As I kept reading, I became happy. I became happy because despite the slavery, the prejudice, the unfairness, Black people shaped America into what it is today through our language and culture and you can't stop a voice that wants to be heard, no matter how hard you try to silence it.

    James Baldwin's persuasive essay claims that language plays a bigger role than just being spoken. Language is your identity, your past, your future, your family, your goals and aspirations, language is your struggle, your journey, your victory or your defeat, language is who you are. In his essay, Baldwin states, "The brutal truth is that the bulk of white people in American never had any interest in educating black people, except as this could serve white purposes" (Baldwin), this quote is significant because it tells us the bulk of white people wanted to erase the language Black people had created, they didn't understand it therefore they wanted the strip Black people of who they were. Language is a powerful thing and with power comes great struggle. Baldwin states, "  A child cannot be taught by anyone who despises him, and a child cannot afford to be fooled. A child cannot be taught by anyone whose demand, essentially, is that the child repudiate his experience, and all that gives him sustenance, and enter a limbo in which he will no longer be black, and in which he knows that he can never become white. Black people have lost too many black children that way" (Baldwin), this quote is critical because it shows us the power language has, the effect it has, the story it tells. Your language is not just your speech, it is your journey, experience, and identity. Your language is your power.

 

 

 

 

 

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Baldwin, James. “ If Black English Isn't a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is? .” The New York Times, The New York Times, 1998, https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-english.html?source=post_page---------------------------.

"File:Maison Jazz Band.jpg." Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository. 9 Sep 2020, 12:30 UTC. 13 Mar 2023, 10:38 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Maison_Jazz_Band.jpg&oldid=453210485>.